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Next shoe to drop for U.S. job seekers: lower wages
Reuters ^ | March 6, 2009 | Nick Zieminski

Posted on 03/07/2009 1:40:42 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

With "no end in sight" for U.S. job losses amid a recession that could stretch into 2010, American workers will soon have to contend with another blow to their confidence: stagnant, or even falling wages.

Job seekers -- already coping with the highest unemployment rate in a quarter century, their savings mugged by a plunging stock market -- can also expect lower pay once they land a new job, labor market experts say, because the current downturn shows no signs of turning around anytime soon.

"There's no end in sight," said Tig Gilliam, chief executive of Adecco Group North America, the third-largest U.S. employer behind Wal-Mart Stores and the postal service.

"March is going to be the same, and I don't see anything that will make April better."

Lower wages, in turn, could further erode the outlook for the U.S. economy by hurting consumers' spending power.

The government's February employment report showed 651,000 jobs eliminated outside the farm sector, while losses in the previous two months were revised upward. The unemployment rate jumped to 8.1 percent, highest since 1983.

Job losses in professional services categories are accelerating, and temporary payrolls -- typically a leading indicator -- show no signs of improving, Gilliam said.

The temp sector, where losses preceded the decline in the wider labor market by a year, must stabilize before any hint of a wider jobs recovery.

Temporary workers as a percentage of the total workforce are down to 1.42 percent, a level not seen since May 1994. The bottoming of this metric typically correlates with the end of recession, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey Silber in a research note.

"Unfortunately, we're not there yet," Silber said.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: agenda; bho2009; bho44; bhoeconomy; democrat; democrats; economy; impeachobama; layoffs; obama; obamanomics; recession; salaries; unemployment
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I'm not only missing Presidents Bush and Reagan, but Clinton and Carter! This guy has the reverse Midas Touch!!
1 posted on 03/07/2009 1:40:42 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It hasn’t filtered through yet. What these monsters in charge have been and are doing. History is what we are watching folks. The bad kind.


2 posted on 03/07/2009 1:46:26 AM PST by allmost
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He has crammed four years of Jimmy Carter into one month. It remains to be seen how much damage will result in month number two.


3 posted on 03/07/2009 1:47:28 AM PST by IrishCatholic (No local Communist or Socialist Party Chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

By the time bambi is done we will all be on minimum wage, unless you have party connections.


4 posted on 03/07/2009 2:02:10 AM PST by valkyry1
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To: valkyry1

You have outlined the goal. Rather concisely.


5 posted on 03/07/2009 2:03:47 AM PST by allmost
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I'm not only missing Presidents Bush and Reagan, but Clinton and Carter! This guy has the reverse Midas Touch!!

At least Clinton had entertainment value, as did Billy Carter, RIP. Obama does have a bit of Jimmy Carter's way of preaching that Americans are bad so they diserve to suffer.

6 posted on 03/07/2009 2:23:21 AM PST by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"This guy has the reverse Midas Touch!! "

Instead of gold it is poop. I would have used another word but it is not allowed here.

7 posted on 03/07/2009 2:28:44 AM PST by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"I'm not only missing Presidents Bush and Reagan, but Clinton and Carter! This guy has the reverse Midas Touch!!"

I miss Jimmy Peanuts as much as a bad dose of the clap. Granted Obama is worse. But Jimmy supported Obama. I'm old enough to remember what the peanut farmer did to this republic.

8 posted on 03/07/2009 2:40:07 AM PST by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: allmost

I am vacationing in Jamaica. Yesterday I visited a call center for an off shore out sourcing company. The manager/trainer said in 10 years he has had not ONE case of carpel/tunnel syndrome, no lawsuits for back injuries and no honest threats of labor unions. One of his top paid ladies is making $600 USD a week, as they put them all on incentives, how many calls they handle, sells they make and keystrokes on a computer they can pile up in a working day. I came to the hotel and watched a video of the UAW workers in Detroit and I think Amerika is in more trouble than they realize.


9 posted on 03/07/2009 2:58:03 AM PST by rovenstinez
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To: rovenstinez

I don’t blame America. You can, but I would disagree. My grandmother has issues with her wrist. Bless her heart. Not a lawsuit in sight.


10 posted on 03/07/2009 3:05:11 AM PST by allmost
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The intent of the Free Trade treaties and outsourcing / offshoring is to bring American wages down to world levels, i.e. whatever the average Chinese laborer makes.

So the plan is working, and the global elitists see nothing wrong with what is happening and plan to do nothing to stop it.

That is all that this article verifies.

11 posted on 03/07/2009 3:29:06 AM PST by Regulator (Welcome to Zimbabwe! The looting has begun.......)
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To: allmost
The only thing that Zero can hope for is that the economy gets better despite his socialist fantasies, not because of them. I highly doubt this scenario personally. It goes without saying that high levels of unemployment would put downward pressure on wage rates. This provides the double whammy of having less people employed with less discretionary income to spend. Not a good way to dig one selves out of a bad recession. His notions of raising the minimum wage and encouraging more union employment will only shrink the work force even further. I have yet to here of one policy that the anointed one has espoused that will increase economic vitality. He's nothing more than a vampire sucking the life blood out of our country.
12 posted on 03/07/2009 3:54:59 AM PST by RU88 (The false messiah can not change water into wine any more than he can get unity from diversity.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

All of those illegals from the housing industry need to work somewhere, and juan mccain cannot find enough yards for them to mow.


13 posted on 03/07/2009 3:55:09 AM PST by org.whodat (Auto unions bad: Machinists union good=Hypocrisy)
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To: org.whodat
If only McCain had been elected, I would be pulling down $96k a year picking lettuce with 4 weeks vacation. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona
14 posted on 03/07/2009 4:05:37 AM PST by WildcatClan (Iam fimus mos ledo ventus apparatus)
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To: Regulator

The article simply verifies your bias, you mean.


15 posted on 03/07/2009 4:11:57 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; Toddsterpatriot; 1rudeboy
American workers will soon have to contend with another blow to their confidence: stagnant, or even falling wages.

Not to worry; despite this minor unpleasantness, I'm confident the country will meet it's 65,000 wage slave H1B import quota this year.

Pinging the H1B lobby.

16 posted on 03/07/2009 4:16:54 AM PST by central_va (Co. C, 15th Va., Patrick Henry Rifles-The boys of Hanover Co.)
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To: WildcatClan

People need to start mailing him applications, he has connections.


17 posted on 03/07/2009 4:55:27 AM PST by org.whodat (Auto unions bad: Machinists union good=Hypocrisy)
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To: Regulator

The “intent” of Free Trade is to open up markets from and to each economy for the benefit of all. Freedom is a good thing bub, get used to it cause freedom will win out in the long run.


18 posted on 03/07/2009 5:12:35 AM PST by Wpin (I do not regret my admiration for W)
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To: rovenstinez
I am vacationing in Jamaica. Yesterday I visited a call center for an off shore out sourcing company. The manager/trainer said in 10 years he has had not ONE case of carpel/tunnel syndrome, no lawsuits for back injuries and no honest threats of labor unions. One of his top paid ladies is making $600 USD a week, as they put them all on incentives, how many calls they handle, sells they make and keystrokes on a computer they can pile up in a working day. I came to the hotel and watched a video of the UAW workers in Detroit and I think Amerika is in more trouble than they realize.
And that is a good thing? Sitting at a computer 12 hours a day is *bad* for you. He doesn't have lawsuits because in Jamaica workers don't have an (real) legal recourse.

That said now the global barriers to entry have been broken down for so many different fields I expect the race to the bottom to get even faster. I wonder if Myanmar is going to get into the act? Definitely no worries about unions or lawsuits there.

19 posted on 03/07/2009 5:13:01 AM PST by ketsu (ItÂ’s not a campaign. ItÂ’s a taxpayer-funded farewell tour.)
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To: Wpin

The name isn’t “Bub”. Don’t post to me if you can’t get past that.


20 posted on 03/07/2009 5:15:36 AM PST by Regulator (Welcome to Zimbabwe! The looting has begun.......)
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